Contents

36 speakers from several countries read parts of the script, which was then collected, produced and edited into a remarkably seamless whole by Lim.[1] The resulting podfic is almost five and a half hours long (5:27:41 to be exact!).

The multitude of readers portray the many conflicting narrators in the story, and also literalize the reading that the story's quibbling historians reflect fandom. Zoetrope gives voice to the story's main narration.

Recs and Reactions

"it is an AMAZING recording. [...] Every reader is fantastic, the editing is wonderful, I'm just stunned. Incredible job."[2]

"it was amazing, and beautiful, and i almost can't wait to start the whole thing over again, and listen to it AGAIN because the voices were perfect in every way. [...] plus it was so fun to listen to the huge variety of accents brought to bear on a single project. so amazing."[3]

"I dl'd this last night, and spent the entire day listening. Honestly, I've been in fandom for a decade, and this was one of my top fandom experiences ever :D I'm amazed, nearly speechless. I laughed, blushed, cried at the ending, and may have generally made a fool of myself at work, but who the hell cares."[4]

"This is amazing, people. I just finished listening to it, and the story is excellent, layered and inventive, creating a real world of its own, and the reading is outstanding, capturing the many voices of the characters and perspectives with outstanding vocal variation and emotion."[5]

"I especially liked how you took the story and ran with it, not just expressing the words on the page, but also adding the music and the... collage of texts (as it were) at the end which gave a great depth of history to it."[6]

"All of you reading spoke so beautifully and eloquently, the castings for each character was just spot on! I listen to so many 'professional' audio books, but to me, this was better than 'professional,' everything just flowed so beautifully."[7]

"This story itself is mythic, epic and awe inspiring. This collaborative reading project is just jaw dropping. [...] It is impossible to put into words how many different levels of amazing this is. The readings lending a different voice to each historian remind me of documentaries I watched as a kid, or listening to Ken Burns tapes. It's so very believable and realistic, that added depth of the auditory onto an already complex and fantastic story. You guys ROCK!!"[8]

"[...] although zoetrope was fantastic and felt like the glue holding all this together, it was the mix of so many voices that made it special. I was actually a bit surprised to find myself liking every single one. Just, voices, man. So cool. And each person put a unique spin on their sections, which, combined together, made this story so much fuller and greater than it would have been with a single reader. The music was cool and worked well. And the *epilogue*, the way it sounded all foreign and alien and different in tone from the earth historian sections. Just, as a whole piece, this came together so well. I understand why this is so widely recced, now, and will add my voice to the many already singing its praises."[9]

"Written by the Victors is so far and away a different animal from any other podfic that came out in 2007 that it broke molds, shifted paradigms, re-wrote rulebooks. THE quintessential multi-reader fic, and of a fic that lent itself incredibly well to that format, "Victors" is AN EXPERIENCE that begs to be enjoyed on its own, not as mere background for the events of the day. [...] remains a podfic achievement that is unparalleled in so many ways"[10]

"cesperanza's amazingly epic Written by the Victors was made into an equally epic podfic, with thirty-six, count 'em, THIRTY-FUCKING-SIX, wonderful podficcers providing their prodigious talents to the production of this five-hour aural orgasm."[11]

"[...] OH MY FUCKING GOD, THIS PODFIC IS A THING OF AWE AND WONDER WHICH MAKES THE WORLD A SHINIER PLACE!!! Really, this was a revelation for me, when I downloaded it - I'd read the text version, and thoroughly enjoyed it, but hearing it read by multiple voices, and getting a rush of fannish connection as each new person whispered into my ear as I went about my business...I don't think I can really explain how very touched I was by this, or how tangible and immediate it made fandom feel. [...] also my first encounter with cover art and use of music, and the whole thing felt so professional, and such a labour of love - really, it filled my heart to bursting"[12]

"This podfic gets recced all over the place, for good reason. I'm not in SGA fandom at all - I've seen maybe three episodes of the show - but I found I didn't need a lot of familiarity to really enjoy this podfic. It's a beautiful, epic story, and the production on the podfic is amazing. If you love podfic, I don't care what your preferred fandoms are - you have to listen to this."[13]

So... usually I don't even listen to audiobooks at all, much less fan-produced fanfic audiobooks based on series that I've never even seen. So, yeah. Having said that, I have definitely been following the vast wave of creativity that seems to have been sparked by cesperanza'sStargate Atlantis story, Written By the Victors. Following it in a stunned and awe-inspired sort of way that makes me keep asking myself why my fandoms aren't this creative and literary.

Now I discover that there is an audiobook version too. An audiobook that is nearly five and a half hours long and has an all-star cast of thirty-six people, including rivkat who will be familiar to many X-Files fans as the co-author of "Iolokus." The whole thing was edited together by lim, the vidder who did "Us"... why am I not surprised?

To cut a long story short, I have downloaded the thing. Tomorrow I am going down to Boston to pick loneraven at the airport, so hopefully I will be able to listen to some of it on the way. Generally I am awful at listening to things, but what little I have sampled so far sounds really lovely and potentially fascinating. I mean, I even found the cast list an interesting listen. The voice of zoetrope, the main narrator, is wonderfully mellifluous.

Perhaps I shall offer a more objective and less randomly enthusiastic review once I have listened to the thing. Perhaps not.

Written by the Victors is the most creative endeavor of any fandom. The fic spawned a universe. It spawned a vid (which actually reinvents the source so that it illustrates the fic!) And I've been awaiting the podfic since the project was announced. SO much love for Victors, so much love. [15]